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Lecturer(s)
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Visi Tamás, doc. Ph.D., M.A.
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Course content
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1. What Is and What Is Not Jewish Philosophy? (A historical overview) 2. German Nihilism: Leo Strauss' lecture from 1941 3. The Banality of Evil (Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem and the controversy it stirred; the issue of Jewish collaboration; explaining Nazism in terms of Kantian philosophy; radical evil and banal evil; was it correct to hang Eichmann? Gershom Scholem's criticism of Hannah Arendt;, ahavat Yisrael or its absence; Arendt's reply; historians on Arendt's book) 4. An Aborted Enlightenment (The Nazi philosopher: the scandal of eminent German intellectuals' support for the Third Reich; The case of Heidegger: Hannah Arendt's explanation; Leo Strauss' explanation: Nazism as a result of the failure of (modern) enlightenment; Mendelssohn, Spinoza, Maimonides: medieval enlightenment versus modern enlightenment; Strauss' reading Maimonides: a radical freethinker in the Middle Ages; esotericism and philosophical pedagogy; Maimonides as a positive counter-image of Heidegger in Strauss' thought) 5. The Shoa III: Nihilism (Ancient and medieval metaphysical systems and their Jewish reception; the collapse of traditional systems of values: Emmanuel Lévinas and Hans Jonas on the "death of God" and the end of metaphysics; Jonas on Gnosticism as an ancient form of nihilism; modernity as a most dangerous combination of technological advance and nihilism; moral vacuum and Nazism; what is left after Auschwitz?) 6. The Shoa IV: Rethinking Judaism (what to do with the moral vacuum? Lévinas's concept of moral heteronomy; responsibility and the Other; Jonas' philosophy of life; self restrain, altruism, and biology; creation myth reloaded; biotechnology and the imperative to preserve the "image of God"; "technological innovation with responsibility") 7. Ancient Texts and Modern Sensitivities I: The Debate on Jewish Environmental Ethics (The challenge: Aldo Leopold, Lynn White Jr. and Arnold Toynbee blaming Jewish tradition for Western disregard for nature and environment; the apologists of Jewish tradition: Jeremy Cohen, E. L. Allen, Jeanne Kay; eco-theology and its biblical and rabbinic proof-texts; environmental policies and halakha; Gaia-movement and Judaism; what would Maimonides say? Steven S. Schwarzschild's criticism of the apologists) 8. Ancient Texts and Modern Sensitivities II: Judaism and Gender 9. Can a Prophet be Wrong? Moses Narboni, Yomtov Lippmann Mühlhausen, and Maharal of Prague
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Lecture, Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook)
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Learning outcomes
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The basic trends in Jewish philosophy will be highlighted through discussing the problem of nihilism and related problems, such as Arendt's concept of the banality of evil (including a debate session about the question whether it was correct to hang Eichmann), Jonas' thesis that Gnosticism was a pre-modern form of nihilism (or nihilism is a modern form of Gnosticism), and the relationship between monotheism and dualistic worldviews. Students will learn how to understand these complex texts (how to recognize and decipher references to Jewish religious, historical, and cultural phenomena in these texts, how to reconstruct the logic of the argumentation), and will learn about how Jewish philosophy is embedded in Jewish religion and culture.
Analytic reading of highly conceptualized texts which are rich in cultural references. Extrapolating meaningful patterns of intellectual history. Legitimate use of AI for these purposes.
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Prerequisites
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An introductory course based on the readings of elementary texts and on the encounters with the basic topics of Jewish philosophy and philosophy as such. The course is suitable for all the students of the Jewish Studies and for all those who are interested in the problems of philosophy.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Essay, Dialog
Attendance, continuous papers on the texts read in class, a final paper on the chosen and consulted topic. Tolerated absences: 1.
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Recommended literature
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David Hartman. (2000). Israelis and the Jewish Tradition: An Ancient People Debating Its Future. New Haven.
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H. Arendt. (1995). Eichmann v Jeruzalémě: Zpráva o banalitě zla. Praha.
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H. Arendt, G. Scholem. (2017). The Correspondence of Hanna Arendt and Gershom Scholem. Chicago.
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Hans Jonas. The Concept of God after Auschwitz. 1987.
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Charles Manekin. (2001). On Maimonides. Belmont, Ca.
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Joel .L. Kraemer. (2008). Maimonides.
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Judah Halevi. The Kuzari, překlad N. Daniel Korobkin.
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Leo Strauss. German Nihilism. 1999.
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Menachem Kellner. (2006). Maimonides' Confrontation with Mysticism. London.
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Raphael Jospe. (1990). What is Jewish Philosophy?. Ramat Aviv.
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